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Paper Mario: Double-Sided
|color2 = #BA2828|developers = 60px|link=Lone Planet|publishers = |releasedates = 2020|genre = Action role-playing game|modes = Singleplayer}} Paper Mario: Double-Sided is a role-playing game and the sixth game in the Paper Mario series. It returns to the side-scrolling gameplay seen in Super Paper Mario, but adds elements from the first two games and brings the series into the form of an action RPG. Overarching Story Shared Prologue: The Barrier Cave Mario receives a letter from Princess Peach, who tells him to meet her at the Barrier Cave, a mysterious cave located near her castle. Mario makes his way there, and meets Peach at the cave. She informs Mario of strange tremors coming from the cave, but as they head deeper inside, Bowser ambushes them. As usual, he attempts to kidnap Peach, but is promptly defeated. Once Bowser is defeated however, he falls back towards a strange crystalline mirror of sorts, which shatters and unleashes a blinding light towards the trio. When the light fades, the trio witness a vortex of sorts with two eyes emerging from it. A giant smile then emerges as two hands grab Mario and Bowser, before the portal closes. Peach is in shock, but then looks outside the cave to see various portals opening up throughout the Mushroom Kingdom. Developer note: Regarding intermissions between chapters, it depends on who clears the chapter first. For example, if Chapter 1 is cleared with Mario first, you'll see Peach's intermission, and then clearing Chapter 1 as Bowser will show Luigi's intermission. Peach Intermission 1 Peach runs to her castle after leaving the Barrier Cave to find L.K., Timid Guy, and Trumbone already there, watching the portals open up in the sky. Timid Guy asks Peach why Mario isn't with her, before she tells the trio that both Mario and Bowser have gone missing. Clearly in shock, the trio then decide that with Mario out of commission to stop what's going on, they need to contact Luigi. As Peach makes her way up to her chambers in the castle, L.K. fires up a video call with Luigi, who happens to be with Daisy at the time of the call. Luigi asks what's going on, before L.K. tells the duo that both Mario and Bowser are currently missing, and that Luigi should go look for him. Luigi, clearly in shock, tells the trio that he won't fail them as he and Daisy end the video call. In relief, the trio decide to check on Peach, who's at the castle's balcony. Throughout the Mushroom Kingdom, the portals are continually spewing out all sorts of monsters, some of which Peach can recognize. Luigi Intermission 1 Luigi and Daisy find themselves entering one of many portals within the Mushroom Kingdom. After some simple platforming through what appears to be a wasteland full of plants, the duo come across a castle of sorts, sneaking inside. They see Kriga walking out of a portal, heavily injured, and decide to spy on her. Kriga is approached by two Koopatrols wearing armor made from Piranha Plant skin, telling them that the plan to secure the Shade Coin in Reality 5981 was a bust. The two Koopatrols tell Kriga that Mistress Ivy will be disappointed, and that two of her more prized minions will be handling the next two coins. Kriga is enraged, but tells the two Koopatrols that she'll train harder. Luigi and Daisy shudder as the meeting ends. Believing that both Mario and Bowser are in danger, they know that they need to try and find both of them. As the intermission ends, the following snippet of story is shown: One day, the invader came. He ravaged the world, and took its ruler. A hero emerged, and went on an adventure to stop the invader. After a long, enduring trek, the final battle approached. Untold chaos broke out as the hero and villain collided. Yet, in the end, the hero prevailed. The ruler was grateful, but then the hero parted ways. Nobody could've seen it coming. Mario's Story Prologue: World Between Worlds Mario wakes up in the middle of a street, with a strange blue and purple sky above him. As he walks through the street, a green-robed Shy Guy runs up to him, taking multiple glances at the red-hatted plumber. She then hops up and down before screaming chants of "I found him!". She then sprints off towards a small lab as Mario follows. When Mario arrives, the Shy Guy can be seen talking with a glasses-wearing Scuttlebug, who then looks at Mario with an expression of shock. He identifies himself as Dr. Poindexter Aprus V, and the Shy Guy as Shytoo, a colleague of his. Shytoo tells Mario that Poindexter had detected interdimensional energies radiating from his body, and sought to see if he had anything to do with the random portals opening up in town. When Mario seems confused about his whereabouts, Poindexter tells him that he's in a town known as Spatior, the so-called "world between worlds". Various individuals from various realities end up here, and find a home for themselves. Poindexter and Shytoo simply decided to work together to analyze the reason for why this happens. Shytoo and Mario eventually agree to team up to investigate the happenings with the dimensional portals. As they head outside town, a portal opens up and pours out a horde of Goombas. The duo take out the Goombas, before noticing that the portal is still open. They jump inside to see what's going on. Chapter 1: The City of Monkeys Mario and Shytoo find themselves spat out inside a massive city, with strange-looking buildings made of amber and bones. Asking a nearby Koopa Troopa where they are, he says that they're in a place called Cretacopolis, a city that was built from dinosaur bones. The duo explore the city for a bit, before running into a gang of Ukikis. These Ukikis state that they work for the Ukiki Syndicate, and don't like seeing strangers in their turf. Mario and Shytoo manage to defeat the Ukikis, and enter the area known as Ukiki Alley. Within the alley, there's a considerable amount of shady individuals, with Ukiki gangsters keeping watch of the area. Mario and Shytoo find themselves forced into a small shack, where a Sherm can be seen sleeping. Mario then whacks the tank with his hammer, causing it to choke up a small cannon blast and look around. He berates Mario for waking him up from his sleep, but just as he's about to shoot the duo, two Ukikis come into the shack, having been sent by "the boss". Once the Ukiki ambush is dealt with, the Sherm thanks Mario for saving his life, as he owed some debts to the Syndicate that he could never pay. He identifies himself as Pansor. The trio sneak into the Ukiki Syndicate's headquarters via a secret entrance, navigating busy offices and dark corridors. On the top floor of the skyscraper, they find a suited Ukiki sitting at a large desk. Strangely, he seems to speak, telling Mario and his allies that defying the Ukiki Syndicate is a major offense to him. They engage the “Ukiki Godfather” in battle, and defeat him, thus freeing Cretacopolis from the Ukiki Syndicate's tyranny. On the Godfather’s desk however is a large green coin of sorts, which Mario puts in his pocket. Mario and co. return to Spatior, arriving at Dr. Poindexter's lab. There, he analyzes the coin they brought him, before finding out that it reeks of dimensional energies. Consulting countless manuscripts in his lab, he concludes that it's one of ten Shade Coins, powerful artifacts that, when collected, can rip open holes in spacetime to any reality. He suggests that Mario collect more of them if he is to return home. Mario and his party leave the building, and proceed to enter a new gateway that popped up outside Spatior. Chapter 2: For Fame and Glory Mario and company arrive at the gSports Arena, a massive stadium dedicated to the fighting game "Supreme Bashing Goombas". Upon entering the arena, they sight the man who runs it, an Ant Trooper named Mr. Enarjee. He announces that today's bouts will be for a grand prize, being a large blue coin that Shytoo immediately identifies as a Shade Coin. The group is quick to register for the tourney and even practice against a Monty Mole in the locker room, known as Digten. The game itself, surprisingly, allows Mario and co. to create in-game representations of themselves to fight. Developer Note: Mario and co. conduct regular battles under the guise of it being a video game. Eventually, the team takes on various foes as they climb the charts, with Digten continuing to coach them. The opponents the team faces are varied, ranging from a Lakitu who's addicted to energy drinks, to a Shiverian who knows every tactic in the book, to a Chargin' Chuck who uses glitches and believes an older version of the game was better for having more of them to exploit. However, after one opponent of theirs, a mysterious Bandit known only as the "Voidwalker" is pulled out of the arena for inventing multiple new offensive words in response to his loss, Digten realizes he's taught the trio all he knows. Thus, he joins their team seeing as how the next few bouts require four-man teams. When Mario and co. reach the grand finals, it turns out that they're up against Mr. Enarjee himself, who is accompanied by a trio of Rexes. It's a fierce battle, but Mario's team wins. However, just as Mr. Enarjee is about to present them with the Shade Coin, the Voidwalker swoops in and snags it from him, accompanied by his Bonneter henchmen. He announces that he's bringing the Shade Coin to Mistress Ivy, and takes to the top of the arena. The climb up there is arduous, dangerous, and most importantly, heavily commercialized via ads for various video game companies. Mario and co. eventually manage to confront the Voidwalker, discovering that he also has power over dark magic, more specifically that of the once-great Void Count Bleck attempted to create. After the battle, the Voidwalker teleports away as he swears to eliminate Mario for good, dropping his Shade Coin in the process. With the Shade Coin in tow, Mario and the gang prepare to leave, but are approached by Mr. Enarjee before they can depart. He says he recorded their whole bout with the Voidwalker, and that he'll be using it to bring in more competitors. Mr. Enarjee also encourages the group to return at any time to the gSports Arena. Bowser's Story Prologue: Striking a Deal Bowser is thrust out of a portal outside a city, landing on top of a yellow-spotted Toad with glasses on. The Toad screams in agony as Bowser angrily asks him where he is. The Toad says he's outside a town known as Spatior, and that he had just been thrust into this strange area as well. Despite being squashed by Bowser, the Toad teams up with him, identifying himself as Mys T.. The duo rampage through the fields outside Spatior, taking out the Goombas that had recently shown up. When Bowser and Mys T. arrive in Spatior, most of the townspeople flee, save for the Scuttlebug known as Dr. Poindexter Aprus V. He escorts the duo to his lab, clearly fascinated by the fact that multiple individuals have come from the portals. When he tells Bowser that he had met a red-hatted plumber, Bowser furiously demands to know where he went. Poindexter said he has no clue, which prompts Bowser and Mys T. to rampage away from the town, and eventually enter the first portal they find. Chapter 1: Underground Tyranny Bowser and Mys T. arrive in a cavelike area, with Goombas and all sorts of enemies patrolling the region. Bowser immediately recognizes the area as the Underworld, a place he visited before. As the duo proceed through the land, they notice portals opening up and spewing out foes for them to face off against. Eventually, they reach a small town ruled over by Diamond, who tells Bowser of the crisis going on: Obsidia's iron grip on the Underworld has become even worse for its residents with the arrival of the portals, and she believes that some external force is working with her. Bowser tells Diamond that he intends to stomp out Obsidia and bring peace to the area, believing that there's only room for one world-conqueror. As Bowser leaves the town, he notices a Chill Virus with a stethoscope on, tending to a fainted Underworlder. He asks Bowser if he can retrieve a Refreshing Herb to heal his patient, much to the Koopa King's annoyance. Yet, Mys T. urges him to help out the doctor, leading to Bowser going off to find the herb. Despite running into a duo of Hammer Bros., he secures the herb and brings it to the doctor. Relieved, the doctor identifies himself as Dr. Tetrus, and asks Bowser where he's headed. When the Koopa King points towards a giant castle in the distance, Tetrus asks to come along with him, wanting to see if he can utilize his medical knowledge in battle. His ability to manipulate the cold allows Bowser to proceed through the Underworld. As Bowser arrives at the castle's gates, Pearl emerges with her staff in hand. She tells Bowser that Obsidia won't tolerate any intruders, and Bowser's trio fight her. Pearl survives the fight and escapes into the castle. After some time of solving puzzles and ascending the fortress, Bowser finds Obsidia meeting with a green-skinned Birdo that has armor on and a horned helmet of sorts. The duo are shocked to see an intruder, but the Birdo tells Obsidia that she'll handle it, as her boss told her about an individual that resembled Bowser. Identifying herself as Kriga, she takes on Bowser in a pitched battle, but is promptly defeated. Dr. Tetrus notices a nearby purple-colored coin, and snags it for himself as Obsidia glares at the trio, unleashing her magic. They barely escape the castle with their lives as Obsidia and Kriga chase them, but Tetrus still has the coin on his hands. Yet, the castle collapses due to the magical energies and kills Obsidia in the rubble, leaving the Underworld liberated. Mys T. suggests that the group take the coin Dr. Tetrus found to Spatior and see if it means anything. When Bowser returns to Dr. Poindexter's lab, he delivers the coin to him. Aprus studies it intently, before concluding that it is yet another Shade Coin and putting it on the rack behind him. When Bowser asks where he got the other one, the doctor replies saying that another associate of his secured it, and suggests that Bowser collect them all. Bowser begrudgingly agrees, and heads through another portal outside Spatior. Characters Playable Supporting Antagonists Gameplay Paper Mario: Double-Sided is the first real-time RPG in the history of the Mario series. While it retains the sidescrolling aspect of Super Paper Mario, it's less focused on platforming and moreso on combat and exploration. You'll have a partner constantly following you, who you can command to help out with various functions in and out of battle. The game itself is constantly played from a sidescrolling perspective, with no battle/overworld phases of sorts unlike past Mario RPGs. Battles against enemies take place within the world itself much like Super Paper Mario, though the game is still an RPG and not a platformer. Both Mario and Bowser are fully playable, each with their own stories that contain five chapters and a prologue chapter. Once both of their stories are beaten, a final chapter opens up. Bowser can also open up areas that Mario can explore, and vice-versa, so you'll need to play as both characters if you want to explore every area. Changes from past Paper Mario games While Double-Sided returns to Super Paper Mario's formula, with some of the concepts from the original Paper Mario and The Thousand-Year Door sprinkled throughout, there are still some notable changes. *Badges and items can be assigned to the , , and buttons, removing the need for constant shifting through menus. *Leveling up is now done in a similar fashion to the Mario & Luigi games, where each stat gets an increase, plus you can choose one stat to boost. The stats in particular are: **HP **FP **BP **Power **Luck ***Influences your odds of getting a critical hit. *HP and FP now regenerate automatically, though they'll regenerate much slower while in battle. Certain badges can remedy this however, plus you can always use HP/FP-restoring items. *Badges that add new attacks to your arsenal now have cooldowns when used in a battle. *A targeting system now exists, which helps you "aim" at certain enemies when jumping on them and hammering/breathing fire at them, and also determines who your partner will be attacking. *The Audience now functions as a mix of the systems seen in The Thousand-Year Door and Super Paper Mario: **The maximum capacity of the audience now grows by one for every enemy you defeat, though bosses will add five new audience members when first defeated. **Stylish Moves use the Super Paper Mario style, where you shake the controller after stomping on an enemy. **The audience now increases Star Points instead of regular points. *You can buy bigger bags as you progress through the game. *Star Pieces can now be tracked instead of having to get hints from NPCs, using an item obtained later on in the game. Action Commands Action Commands return once again, being closer to the first two games than Super Paper Mario's motion control-based ones. When you attack an enemy, a button will appear above that, if pressed with the right timing, will grant bonus damage. However, there's a cooldown period of three seconds in between each Action Command, to avoid spamming. Partner abilities also have their own Action Commands, though said Action Commands are more complex. Partners Partners return from the first two Paper Mario games, and have been slightly reworked. You no longer have to upgrade them, as they simply gain new attacks and stat boosts as you level up. Partners also use their own FP meters instead of yours, and their abilities can be bound to the GhostDrive's D-Pad. Mario Bowser Sidequests The town of Spatior holds many different services and areas for you to utilize. Trouble Center Returning from the Thousand-Year Door, the Trouble Center offers various sidequests that'll have you revisiting previous areas of the game, and even heading to new parts of the town. While some Troubles can be done as either character, others require a specific character. Troubles have various rewards, ranging from Star Pieces, to coins, to items, to even Badges in some cases. Pits of 100 Trials The Pit of 100 Trials is back, and there's two pits this time around like in Super Paper Mario: one for Mario and his team, and one for Bowser's. Each floor of the pit has its own enemies, some impose a time limit for you, and others have you searching for a key! Every ten floors, you'll receive some kind of reward, culminating in a major reward for defeating the boss at the bottom of the Pit. Boss Dojo The Boss Dojo, located within the center of Spatior, is capable of offering challenging rematches against bosses you've previously beat, who have increased stats and all-new tactics. Plus, specific Special Opponents will test your mettle, such as previous Paper Mario partners and other characters! The rewards are immense if you manage to beat the bosses here! Action Command Institute The Action Command Institute is a special facility that'll test your timing with all of the game's Action Commands. Be sure to sharpen your button-timing skills before coming here! Artifacts of the Ancients When the Ancients' civilization collapsed at the hands of the Pixl Uprising, countless artifacts belonging to the tribe were scattered throughout the multiverse, each one containing important information on the lands and history of these various dimensions. These objects can be collected just like Star Pieces, except they all contain snippets of lore, and are intended to replace characters like Russ T., Wonky, Carson and Garson from past Paper Mario games. Items & Badges Items Badges Enemies Bosses Trivia *This is the first Mario RPG to have Bowser as a playable character and not the main antagonist since Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story in 2009, discounting remakes. *The subtitle of "Double-Sided" references the idea of there being two main characters that are fully playable, each with their own motivations. *Pansor's name is inspired by that of the Panzer tanks used from World War I up until around the Cold War. *Pokerninja2 was responsible for creating the partner arts. 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